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Trinity Kids often...
serve at the Altar
as Acolytes
on Feast Days, on special
occasions -- and on some ordinary Sundays as well. We are proud of them, and often
visitors from other parishes ask us how our Trinity Kids become such proficient
acolytes -- and love doing it so much!
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Part of it is
long-standing tradition of our young people serving as acolytes. If you wish, click on the photo
above to see it full sized -- it's some Trinity acolytes way back in the
1970s! |

And,
if you click on the photo
above, you'll see some Trinity acolytes in October, 2006. |
You'll see lots more
of our acolytes today on this page, all the way from the 2001 Triduum Sacrum and Easter Sunday
to the present time.
But first, how
doTrinity Kids
get started learning to be acolytes? |
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Here's where it starts: Whenever we can, we show even the
youngest that they are part of our Worship. Here, a Minister of
Communion gets some assistance with the 2002 Advent Candles from a future
Trinity acolyte. |
| But it's when
it's done without adult assistance that it begins to really sink
in.
It's also a way the
kids become aware of the many dimensions of our rituals. Pictured here,
for example, are preparations for the Sunday School procession into
the adult service for Holy Eucharist, led by a Sunday Schooler carrying
Trinity's Sunday School Cross.
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Anyway...it's fun,
and it's a
great opportunity to practice!!
(Recently the kids have
been carrying the Sunday School cross in the Recessional, but it's still
an important event for them -- and for us!) |
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...but
soon comes the "real thing" -- being an acolyte for "Big People
Church"... here's a Trinity acolyte team in action! |
| (Here are
a few pictures from Maundy Thursday, 2001)
Robing is an
important part of the process .... |

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| ...for each
acolyte, some aspects of robing are of more interest than others.... |

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...but eventually this
acolyte team was ready!
You
can click on the picture on the right for a larger view of this team
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| Once robed, rehearsal and
preparation are still needed....
Maundy
Thursday acolytes in rehearsal |

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Acolyte
for the
Great Vigil of Easter |

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Easter
Sunday acolytes |
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Labor Day Sunday, 2006: new acolytes made their debut

Senior Warden Linda Lloyd and
Minister of Communion Sue Kozlowski instructing |

Carrying the Gospel book |

Learning to place the torches |

More practice with the torch |

Sue checking with the torchbearers |

Some last minute coaching |

All set to go! |
Click on any of
these thumbnails to see a much larger version of the picture.
to see this team in action when we
were visited by the Choir of Trinity Church, Wall Street! |
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Click on the picture below to
see the Easter acolyte team shown above almost two years later, while
preparing to serve at a Baptism...
...and
again, this time on Palm Sunday 2003
(shown with their proud mom!)
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Commissioning of the Acolytes
Once the new acolytes have been
trained (both formal training and a suitable period of OJT) and have
demonstrated that they both can handle the responsibility of serving at
the Altar and have a real interest in continuing as acolytes, we
formally commission them using the ceremony from the Book of
Occasional Services
Here are two pictures from the
commissioning held October 15, 2006, with the Rt. Rev. Cyril Wismar
presiding, and with Senior Warden (and Minister of Communion) Linda
Lloyd presenting the candidates.
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Candidates,
seen before the Commissioning, with Bishop Wismar and Senior
Warden Lloyd |

Acolytes,
following the Commissioning, show their new Crosses to the
congregation |
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| Usually, the
acolytes join the choir and the celebrant in Walker Hall for a prayer
before the ceremony. Then, all proceed to the church door for the
procession... |
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For some
services, our older acolytes take roles that adults usually fill. For
example, here is one of our acolytes serving in the important role of
processional crucifer for the Maundy Thursday service. |
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...and,
the acolyte's role at the Great Vigil of Easter is particularly
important because the acolyte lights the candles of the parishioners for
the Great Procession |
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Easter Sunday --
our
acolytes serve in other ways, too!!!
(Click the small image
above to see the same acolytes two years later -- and the 2003 bunny cake!) |
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| Pentecost,
too!!
(You're right!! You HAVE
seen this acolyte team in action before!! -- they were the acolyte team for Maundy
Thursday earlier that year! But for Pentecost, the acolytes wear
red robes at Trinity.) |
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| Here's something
our acolytes get to do when the Bishop makes his annual visitation:
one gets to serve as "Bishop's Chaplain". In the photos on
the right, you can see the Bishop's Chaplain from Bishop Ramos' visit in
2001, and the Bishop's Chaplain from Bishop Curry's visit in 2003.
Very, very few of our
acolytes have had the distinction of being Bishop's Chaplain for a
groundbreaking at Trinity, but here's one! |
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| It may look easy,
but our acolytes have ongoing training, as well as on-the-job training, along with the Ministers of
Communion. Here are some photos from a recent training
session. (click on any picture to see
it full-sized) |
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We invite you
to
to see lots of
pictures from the acolyte
training session held in October 2006.
Our secret? Being an acolyte at Trinity is a combination of
training and practice. |
Here's an
acolyte in 2004 receiving a quick briefing about the details of
the service she'll soon be serving in.
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| As long as Acolytes carry
candles, there WILL be candle wax to peel... |
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| ...and even though being an acolyte
is hard work sometimes, it definitely is an experience to remember.... |
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...and it's fun, too! Here's one
of our acolytes before our Shrove Tuesday Evensong (and pancake supper!)(note
the Mardi Gras beads)
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| Kids sometimes ask: "Is being an
acolyte at Trinity something I could do?"
The answer is that if one of
our young people wishes to learn to be an acolyte, we do all we can to encourage
him or her!
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to
return to our main Trinity Kids page...
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